There are not over a 100 people in the U.S. that hate the Catholic Church, there are millions however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church, which is, of course, quite a different thing.- Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Thursday, June 17, 2010

..and ooh look there goes a butterfly *easily distracted*

In the beginning, I only wanted to find out the origin of 'nom' (as in om, nom, nom for eating) and got distracted by use of NOM to mean "New Order Mormons." I was curious, and discovered a website for Mormons who had nowhere to go when they questioned their faith. I really don't know anything about Mormons (officially the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). I tried to learn more today though because it seemed like the questions the NOMs were raising could be easily asked by a Catholic as well. What is the original source of our faith and is it trustworthy? Is my church the One, True church? What do I do with people in my church who don't act Christian? How do I deal with a difference in religiousness between me and my husband/wife? If I am disillusioned by this church, is there truth anywhere? http://www.newordermormon.org/index.php

So I went to go look for the Mormon answers... and I found the answers jumbled, contradictory, and evolving. Do the Mormons know what the Mormons believe and used to believe? Overall, from looking at the history of the church, Mormons believe that after the 12 Apostles died, no one had the authentic teachings of Jesus anymore, called the Great Apostasy. Joseph Smith Jr. wrote (upon inspiration from visions) the Book of Mormon in 1830 and founded the church to be the restoration of Jesus Christ's teachings. He is considered a prophet and created his own translation of the Bible which is considered to be the correct version, with all other translations holding errors. The Book of Mormon is sacred scripture as well, and holds no errors. From what I was able to find, The Book of Mormon talks about a history of peoples on the American continent and how when Jesus ascended in front of the Apostles, He descended again on the American continent and formed new apostles and gave more teachings to the inhabitants of America. This is interesting history, but it really doesn't explain LDS belief. Most of what I could find was either from LDS sites general ideas like that Mormons believe in strong families and that the Holy Spirit gives you love, joy, and peace if you accept their beliefs as true (without intending to limit the Holy Spirit's gifts, I personally appreciate the Catholic Church trying to say there is a way to know truth without emotions getting involved). So to be fair for stuff I am nowhere near educated enough on:http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/basic-beliefs/heavenly-father-s-plan-of-happiness/how-can-i-know-this-is-true

My side (that I grew up learning) is what the Catholic Church says to these questions. The original source of our faith and church is Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit has guided the church from the beginning so nothing has been lost or corrupted. Is it the one true church? Well, it is the completely true church, but it is not the only church that has truth. I would recommend this site: (the 'answering your questions tab is very nice) http://www.catholicscomehome.org/index.php

In a search of similarities between Catholicism and Mormonism, i came up with a site that compared the relative similarity of beliefs... until it became clear that they were being compared in order to criticize both of them as being non-Christian cults. I was curious what they thought of the Catholic Church. It was sad to read. The entire beginning of the article was spurning any discussion between Catholicism and Fundamental Protestantism. They accuse the Church of completely being overtaken by Satan, and say that all of the doctrines defined later in history were invented at that time rather than being perpetual beliefs of the Church that had been challenged (and so, defined) at that time. Interestingly, the site describes its belief that Apostolic Tradition existed, but all tradition went into the Bible, so you can't claim anything as tradition but not in the Bible. Since that belief is not in the Bible (they didn't have any Bible quotes to back it up) it is changing the truth to what they want it to be. And I can't rationally argue them out of the emotional attachment to what they want. But I was sad that some Christians don't want to pursue a Christian unity. Yes, maybe that means coming back under the Catholic church... but if that's the truth, isn't that what's best? You bring what you hold as fundamental truth, and we bring what's ours, and it's mostly the same. But if you believe, like this site, that the Catholic Church is out to deceive you... what is the deception? And being insulting doesn't help make them Christians who love their enemies. http://www.mmoutreachinc.com/cult_groups/thedecievers.html

Saying that the Catholic Church will come to a compromise with other denominations in order to create a common church? Jesus wanted one Church, one Body... but isn't it also of most importance that it is the True Body, not a reformed or corrected or compromised Body?...and ooh look there goes a (metaphorical) butterfly, let's go chase it! *stream of consciousness/train of thought organization continues*

Followers

I suppose I should write somewhere on here that I am flawed. I promise to try to the best of my ability to say the truth. But sometimes I don't know it as well as I could. I'm not a theologian. The authoritative source on the deposit of Catholic faith is the Catechism, not me. So in case of a discrepancy, it wins.